Communication Requirements For Children With Special Needs

Report from user study

Communication requirements for children with special needs by

Catharina Henje & Linda Bogren Design Research Lab Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå University

Sweden, 2009

contents 1. 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4

introduction background UID design research lab target group objective

2. implementation 2.1 initial survey 2.2 design ethnography 3. 3.2 3.3 3.3

processing communication zones & substance identified themes design opportunities

4. previous experiences 4.1 pictocontact 4.2 interaction design degree projects 5.

design development challenges

6.

references

1.1 background In spring 2008, the industrial and interaction design office Myra Industrial Design, Stockholm and the world leading company in eye tracking and eye control Tobii Technology, Stockholm received the Swedish Grand Award of Design 2008 by the Teknikföretagen, the Association of Swedish Engineering Industries in association with The Swedish Industrial Design Foundation and The Swedish Society of Crafts and Design. Myra and Tobii Technology was awarded for a series of eye-controlled screens. Myra Industrial Design and Tobii Technology chose to use the reward to finance this user study performed by the Design Research Lab at Umeå Institute of Design. This user study is a pre-pre study for a possible project with the intention to develop an everyday communication tool for mentally challenged children.

1.2 UID design research lab

1.

introduction

This report describes the process and result from the user study Communication requirements for children with special needs (Kommunikationsbehov hos barn med särskilda behov) carried out by Catharina Henje and Linda Bogren at the Design Research Lab at Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå University during spring 2009. The user study was partly conducted in cooperation with José Ledon and Rouien Zarin, Master degree students at the Interaction Design program at Umeå Institute of Design.

Umeå Institute of Design (UID) at Umeå University started in 1989 as the third industrial design education in Sweden. Through its close cooperation with Swedish and international companies and organizations, UID has created a position as one of the world's top design programs. Business Week Online published in October 2006 a list of the best design schools in the world and among the 33 selected design educations outside the U.S., there is only one among the Nordic countries – Umeå Institute of Design at Umeå University. The Design Research Lab carries out research projects in close cooperation with leading industrial companies and organizations. The multi-disciplinary teams work with a user-centered approach, always in close cooperation with end users and clients. Multi-annual research collaborations have been with ABB, Umeå Municipality, Volvo, Banverket, Telestyrelsen, Specialpedagogiska Skolmyndigheten and more.

As an academic research team, the Design Research Lab develops new knowledge through research projects in the area of design research. The results are published regularly in leading international journals and at conferences in the areas of design research, interaction design, human-machine interaction and inclusive design. For the moment, the Design Research Group consists of eight industrial and interaction designers and engineers.

1.3 target group The main target group for this user study is children with special needs in preschool and primary school age. In this case, children with special needs means children with a developmental disability (as Down syndrome and/or autism) that including results in substantial functional limitations in their receptive and expressive language.

Image 1. Project directives for user study “Communication requirements for children with special needs”

1.4 objective The commission is to look into the communication needs and problems in a variety of communicative situations in everyday life for children with special needs. With help of a reference group designated by Myra Industrial Design and Tobii Technology, the Design Research Group is expected to document the prerequisites and describe and test a method how to work with this user group. The overall vision is that this research results will provide the possibility for better development of communication aids for children with special needs.

At Klara Mera at Rosenlunds Hospital in Stockholm they had a showroom with different technologies and ideas that you can use in an apartment to promote independence amongst cognitive disabled adults. Next to Klara Mera was Idétorget, an assistive technologies showroom setup so that you can test and ask for recommendations of which devices, technical adjustments and computer programs are available and interesting to use for people with specific needs in all ages. Together with Myra Industrial Design we met Mårten Skogö at Tobii Technologies´ office in Danderyd, who demonstrated their eye tracking technology which showed on new interesting ways to interact with a computer.

2.

implementation

In Stockholm we visited Stina Juhlin, CEO at Myra Industrial Design, and her family. We had the fortune to meet their 6-years old son Ludwig both in his home and during different activities in his daily life. Ludwig is borne with Down syndrome and autism.

The collection of knowledge about children with special needs and their communication requirements has been done through interviews with parents, pedagogues and specialists, through observation of children with special needs in their everyday situations and through a review of the subject. Initially, we made a study visit at Kolbäckens Habilitation in Umeå were we interviewed Lena Nilsson, specialist pedagogue in the team of Autism Spectra Disorders. A concentrated user study week was planned and prepared by Myra Industrial Design in beginning of February. For this week, we prepared and tested an initial survey, aimed for the network close to the children we were about to meet during the week in Stockholm. In Stockholm we visited the game developer, teaching aid and children book publisher Hatten Förlag AB. The pedagogic material produced at Teckenhatten is inspired by the Swedish professor of Linguistics and Special Education Iréne Johansson and her theories and methods to teach and train children in language and communication development, particularly children with Down syndrome.

Image 2. Study visit at Hatten Förlag AB.

2.1 initial survey

The survey kit contained the following parts:

The concentrated user study week that was planned and prepared by Myra Industrial Design took part during February 2-5. The plan was to meet, follow and observe some different children through their day, from early morning with breakfast at home, joining the taxi to their preschool or school, all along the day until it was time for bed again (maybe split into two or three days).

¤ A local map: where the parent could draw the route that the child would do that day.

To get an overall picture of the children’s daily life before meeting them and their families, and to better know how to plan and conduct the forthcoming user study, we prepared an initial survey with focus on communication.

¤ A photo album: for photos of the people that the child would meet that day with space for writing a short note about the role persons have in the child’s life.

The kit was send to one family as a pre-test to see if and how it should be adjusted before it was send out to all families that we were going to meet.

The kit consisted of five separate parts aimed for the adult persons closest to the child. With the kit came a small photo printer that could be connected directly to a digital camera (the families were expected to use their own digital camera). The survey was expected to be filled in during one single day and the main goal was to capture the child’s communication needs and efforts during an ordinary day in the child’s life.

¤ A multiple time-schedule for one day: the same day for all adult people that meet the child that day, and where each person shortly could write when and how they communicate with the child that day.

¤ An album for listing communication aids: with possibility to attach photos and describe the aid, when it’s used and how the adult experience it - what is good and what can be done better. ¤ An album for communication situations: with possibility to attach photos of the situation and describe when and how the child communicates and interacts, when it happens and with whom.

Summary It took several weeks to get the kit back from the first test family so we never had time to test it with more families. The test family’s experience was that the survey was far too detailed, timeconsuming and difficult to fill in (they filled in the surveys but did not take any photos). It was hard to make notes and try to manage life at the same time. The conclusion is that this kind of survey kit needs to be redesigned and simplified to be useful in the way it was planned to be used. Or using parts of the material in a deep interview situation with a child’s surrounding network. Another proposal for documenting communication situations for a child during one day could be to ask the family (resource person or teacher) to bring a camera for one day and take photos of interesting situations that day. The photos could then be tagged with comments at the end of the day.

Image 3 . Parts of the Initial Survey.

2.2 design ethnography Design Ethnography is based on ethnography, a branch of anthropology that uses various techniques and ways of thinking to understand modern human behaviors and cultures. The method is qualitative, meaning the research is focused and capable of revealing a deep contextual understanding of what the users do and why. To get a better understanding for our users and the contexts that the children use to be in during their daily life, we practiced design ethnography as a method to perform deep user observations. Through these kind of observations, the interaction designer tries to get as rich information as possible about the user, the context, the user’s interaction with other persons and objects and within and with the context and in consideration with the design challenge that you are facing.

Image 5 . Photos taken during the user observations in Stockholm.

During the concentrated user studies we carried out in Stockholm Feb 2nd-6th, our focus was to capture the variety of communication situations in different contexts for children with special needs and try to define needs and problems in relation to this. Focus has not been to distinguish behaviors and needs related to a specific diagnosis, but rather to look at similarities for children with different kinds of cognitive and communicative challenges.

Image 4 . Video documentation of an activity for children at the Habilitation in Nacka.

We were privileged to observe a number of children in their daily activities both at a preschool called Hemmesta preschool, at two special schools called Hemmesta särskola and Skytteholmsskolan and during a group activity at the Habilitation in Nacka. In total we met a mixture of kids in the age of 5-12 years old in several groups and classes, class teachers, speech therapists, drama pedagogues, sports teachers, image therapists, habilitation pedagogues, psychologists, resource persons and a few parents.

3.

processing

When we returned to UID after this week, we all had a lot of impressions, photos, films, notes and questions. Each of us, Linda Bogren and Catharina Henje from the Research Group and Ru Zarin and José Ledon, master degree students in Interaction design, analyzed the material on his/hers own and made a content inventory. Together we had some joint sessions were we discussed, analyzed and sorted out our findings. By printing out, nailing up and browsing photos of individual interesting stories and situations from our observations, we could more easily share and discuss the material and enhance the identification of recurrent patterns and commonalities as well as specific themes, labeling the situations.

Image 5, 6 & 7 . Brousing and processing user observations.

3.1 communication zones & substance Within the Reggio Emilia approach, an educational philosophy focused on preschool and primary education formulated in Reggio Emilia, Italy over the last 50 years, one regards the environment and the children’s group as important pedagogues as the pedagogue him- or herself, when it comes to supporting the child’s learning. We used this as a model when sorting the information from the initial survey and the user observations, identifying where and with whom communication take part for our user group. We presuppose that the communication in all three surroundings is of importance for the child but may take different forms at different places and with different persons and may be of different importance and priority for the child.

Image 8: The three surroundings that we relate to and were the children we met used to be in their daily life

Image10: Examples of groups that the children meet in their daily life.

Image 11: Examples of individual persons that the children meet and have a relation with in their daily life.

Summary In a further study, it would be of interest to look deeper into the kind of communication, the content and the priority degree due to the contexts. This to see possibilities and constrains when evolving functions and interface in a future communication tool.

Image 9: Examples of environments were the children we met used to be in their daily life

3.2 identified themes The following headlines are some of the significant themes that were identified when processing the material from the design ethnography observations. Some overlap each other more or less. The discoveries from our observation are here in some cases supplemented by material from interviews and literature.

A. B. C. D. E. F. G.

Communication Interpretation Abstraction & Generalization Social competence Interests, Motivation & Reward Visual feedback, Tangible objects & Reinforcement Structure, Time & Transition

A. Communication From what we have seen at the different study visits, a multiple ways of communication is used in-between children and children and adults. From wordless communication through shared visual experience, through pointing or physical interaction as when a child grabs the adults hand or clothes to direct the person or his or hers attention to what is needed (performative communication). Or physical action as when a child just sat down (and refused to go further) at the same place every day, unable to communicate why this was such important place to stay. The communication can also appeared through physical objects as when a child fetched an object (e g a toy or a video) to let the adult know what he/she wanted as we heard and saw when visiting Stina Juhlin The verbal communication was sometimes aided by sign language, in Swedish called TSS – Tecken Som Stöd (signs as support) or AKK – Alternativ Kompletterande Kommunikation (alternative complementary communication). The verbal communication could also be supported by different images as photos, PECS (Picture Exchange Communication System), PCS (Picture Communication Symbols) and Pictogram. We have also seen the lack of common communication and communication tools at the special school and the frustration this causes. Among the pedagogues and the assistants we noticed the frustration because of the absence of individually fitted tools and the problem with the school lacking money to buy adequate aids. We observed situations when adults tried to communicate with a child but turned their head away from the child too quickly to be able to see his or hers attempt to answer, and in one case, how sorry a boy became when not noticed and misunderstood. And we also saw the happiness when a child was seen and heard and understood.

Image 12 . Photos from user observations and some of the Identified Themes.

One pedagogue told us that a challenge with some children is that they act and communicate in different ways with different persons. What se saw was that some children used speech and signs language for communication in a higher degree with the surrounding adults than with other kids, both in classroom situations as in the playground. It seemed like they adapted

to the pedagogues expectations how to communicate in this more obvious way, because even if they had quite a vocabulary, when communicating with each others some kids used more of physical interaction to communicate that they wanted something from each other. When playing in the school yard during a lunch brake, we could see how a pedagogue consequently helped one of the kids in the communication with other class-mates, helping the girl by telling her how to act and what to say to be able to express her will, guiding the social interaction as well as the spoken communication. What we experience is the definite need of finding each child’s’ individual level and aid for communication.

B. Interpretation Some children are quite transient in their communication. As an adult, you must be focused and observant for subtle signals, indicating that the child wants to express something. Some pedagogues expressed that it sometimes is so difficult to understand what the child wants to express. “It’s so easy to misunderstand, and you want so hard to grasp what they are trying to communicate, so you try to interpret what they are saying and give them alternatives all the time.”

C. Abstraction & Generalization According to the pedagogues we met, both generalization and abstraction can be of great difficulty, not least for children with autism spectrum disorders. Another part of the disability is that these children more rarely ask for help. They manage themselves and are satisfied with very little. To learn and understand similarities is a keystone in the abstraction that takes place in the construction of a language. At Kolbäckens habilitation they teach the surrounding network how to step by step train functional communication. From the basic in finding a way how to motivate the individual child and learn how to imitate, to linguistic comprehension through understanding that an photo or an image of an object is equivalent to the object and that you can ask for an object by showing an image and so on.

D. Social competence In several group activities and games, at both the preschools, the special schools and at the Nacka Habilitation group activity, components of training social competence were included in the activities.

The special pedagogue Lena Nilsson at Kolbäckens Habilitation means that the lack of language and communication also causes a lot of everyday worries. A disorder in the process of perceiving can cause difficulty in registering, organizing and interpreting sensory impressions. The lack of communication makes it even more difficult for the child to interpret hers or his own signals from the body as to be aware of that you are thirsty, hungry or in need of taking a leak. For the adult to interpret the child’s signals right, verbalize them and move from words to action, as to confirm that you have read the child’s needs, is not only a way to formulate a language but also a way to help the child to interpret and understand hers or his own signals making it easier to express these in the future. Image 13. A Social Story about what will happen when you go to the barber.

Image 14. A aid for playing with your doll - showing differnt alternative games you can do with it..

It could be included in songs or games with turn taking and waiting for your turn in a group activity, or games where you pose a question, asking somebody for a thing or as “the fruit store game” during a snack brake where all the children were sitting in a ring. First they got a real coin and then, one at time, they went to the teacher in the middle and choose a fruit, asked for it and payed for it and then went back to their place in the ring before enjoying the fruit.

E. Interests, Motivation & Reward

Klara Mera had a lot of visual aids for training and preparing tasks in your daily life. A social story can be a short explaining text or a series of images, telling how to handle a situation or describing what to expect in a specific situation. This text, reinforced with images, tells about what will happen when you go to the barber.

One boy we met was very fond of raspberries. For each task he performed at school, he could collect an image of a raspberry and when he had gathered three images he knew that he was allowed to go out to the kitchen and fetch half a cup of frozen berries. Yummy! The reward system itself was a very lo-fi gadget, made in plasticized paper. But it had taken some while for the pedagogues and the family to frame the reward system for this child with Down syndrome, starting with the instant treat to collecting abstract images and for the boy to wait until the third image before collecting his desire.

Children with autism spectra disorders often have a shortage of Theory of mind (T-O-M). It can be difficult for them to imagine things beyond the perceived, to understand how, and even that, other people think, feel, are pretending or joking. It can be difficult to understand other peoples’ intention and to predict what will happen. For these children, social stories are of great help, teaching the child how to act and what to expect in a relation with other people and in specific situations. A deficiency in central coherence can mean that the child with an autistic challenge has an extremely good memory for details but at the same time a fragmented sensory integration with difficulty to generalize knowledge from one situation to another, having narrow-minded interests and inability to vary the games she or he plays. One kind of game can go well for a long time but is rarely developed. Instead it is exchanged to another game. Stories can help them understand what sequence that usually comes after another. Stories, images and dolls can be a method for talking and treat a situation in a neutral way, without exposing the particular child or his or hers situation.

For the different children we met during the user study week in Stockholm; we saw different attempts among the pedagogues to catch each individual’s interests and motivation for supporting and encouraging the learning process. For one child, the reward could be a verbal approval, for another it could be a certain game, sing a song or watch a movie.

Anneli Tisell at Hatten Förlag AB told about her work with developing the sound for the application TeckenHatten, a children’s PC program for learning sign language. The sound of a fart when something went wrong was such a misdirected “reward” so instead of performing the tasks in a right way, the children using the program really tried to fail – just to evoke the funny sound. Anneli realized that she didn’t need to confirm or reinforce when something goes wrong, only to strengthen succeeds. All children are individuals, unlike each others, and therefore need different strategies for capturing interests and gaining motivation as well as suiting possible systems for rewards.

F. Visual feedback, Tangible objects & Reinforcement For all children at all preschools and schools visited, the teachers uses images, photos, symbols, objects and signs to reinforce communication in one or an another way. Lena Nilsson means that the eye-minded is so strong. “It is documented that images also trigger the linguistic development”, she tells us.

Often you see both text and image in combination. Signs as a support and reinforcement to spoken language (TSS or AKK) are often used for children with speech or language disorders. One purpose of the articulated and visual feedback is also to strengthen the child’s self conception and self esteem. Visa bild på studmatta Using physical items and motions are other ways of enhancing memory by involving other senses in your learning process as well as training fine and gross motor-skills. Image 17 & 18. Aids for visualizing time and the daily activities.

When you know that the time limit for one activity is reached, it can be easier to switch to another. We also saw some examples in the schools how teachers bridges over from one activity to another by singing a song or doing a physical activity that actually led from one place with the first activity, to the next place and next activity. Image 15 & 16. The ordinary child book is supported with tangible objects - the same characters and utensiles that is mentioned in the book.

G. Structure, Time & Transition Structure is one of the three main cornerstones that Iréne Johansson stress as important when using her method to support children’s language development. All children are doing well from having a good structure in life, but children with an autism spectra disorders depends entirely on the surrounding structure to feel good and being able to act. To understand time and to switch from one activity to another can also be very hard. One way of constructing structure and making life more understandable is by visualizing time and showing what will happen in the near future. There are a lot of lo-tech as well as more technological devices that visualize time and duration as well as schedules for day activities and weeks.

Image 19. Transition - walking on blocks from one activity, to another.

Summary The themes and the observations made within the different areas as significant to take into account in a continuous design process. They can serve as basis of discussion when deciding what to focus on or including in a demand list for a future product.

3.3 design opportunities For us designers, an observed situation also serve as a starting points for design opportunities. Some ideas appear already in situ, others when processing the background material. To make the material easier to share, each of us chose some observed situations that we found interesting, formulated them as “short stories”, summed up with a formulated design opportunity in a sentence beginning with “what if”.

Image 20 & 21. Some examples of the design opportunities that were formulated.

Summary A good story about a user's experience can help people to see the problem (or opportunity), motivate people to take action, and stick in people's memories long after we're gone. These short stories illustrate one way of processing, selecting, visualizing and sharing a background material. It also shows how to trigger and capture design opportunities from a material.

4.

previous experiences

Picture based communication for mobiles

4.1 pictocontact During 2008 and until March 2009, UID Research group carried out a project called PICTOCONTACT in cooperation with The Swedish Post and Telecom Agency (PTS) and The National Agency for Special Needs Education and Schools (SPSM). In PICTOCONTACT, the users have been involved in the design development throughout the whole project. The user group remained of people in the age of 16-30 y with a cognitive challenged on a level B , a few of them with very limited spoken language. Image 22. PICTOCONTACT - examples of interfaces for PC and mobile phone.

The overall objective with the project was to develop an Internet-based service, which provided people with cognitive difficulties, and reading and writing ability on a level B, to independently and remotely communicate and create a social community with help of Pictogram. Initial interviews were made with parents, teachers, resource persons and special pedagogues to identify current needs, possible problems and functional requirements. From this pre-study, the design department created an interface for web and mobile phone which was tested for three months with 13 users and their surrounding contacts before it was evaluated.

Summary The experiences from this project show the importance of working in an intimate contact with the people that are closest to the user, such as parents, assistants or resource persons, teachers, etc. One must take into account whether the person has an own language or not, and adapt to each individual and situation.

All tests with users must be well prepared. A test is more likely to succeed if it is preceded of a pre-study with observations included, to better know how to arrange the test itself. The test should be set up so the results can be interpreted by those who are closest to the user, and with question that are possible for these persons to answer. The interpretation of a result can also be made in combination with observations by the designers. It was hard to predict the outcome during the test period, it was much of trial and error, and all through the project you have to be prepared on adapting as the project progresses. It took quite a while before some of the users learned how to use the new communication tool, and in general, everyone, both users and surrounding network, thought that three months was too short.

ROUIEN ZARIN

4.2 interaction design degree projects The outcome from the Interaction Design degree projects made by José Ledon and Rouien Zarin gives a lot of input according to user tests with cognitive challenged preschool children, touch screen based devices and the benefit of using an eye tracking system.

JOSÈ LEDON One of the user tests José Ledon carried out was with a 6 y old boy with Down syndrome and autism spectra disorders. In this case he tried some applications he had built for a Nokia5800 with a 3,2 inch wide touch screen(16:9). One of the applications contained 15 small images placed on the area of 3.2 inches. The boy interacted with the interface in a spontaneously way and understood intuitively how to press and interact with the small icons. Even though the boys’ fine-motor skills were not the best, he had no problems with hitting the small icons. At the same user test, José Ledon tried the same application, now on an Eye Tracking System from Tobii Technology model T-60. The application José Ledon had designed contained both text and images. When touching one of the graphic icons, a short movie-clip started were you can see the mouth of the boy’s mother, reading the word that is shown in the graphics. The feedback from the eye tracking device showed that the boy not only looked at the images but also the text area. Animations were the most attracting. Compared with other, nondisabled children in the same age, the boy focused and moved his eyes in another way. His focused were some centimeters to the left or the right of the objects that he interacted with on the screen. This could be due to a vision problem, but also to the fact that it was very difficult to carry out the calibration.

In the user tests Rouien Zarin carried out, he first tried a lot of animated flash applications on a horizontal multi-touch screen together with some cognitive challenged children. Most children interacted instantly and in collaboration with the application. Some children became more dominant, taking the role of an “advanced user” which made him try also with one child at time. After some testing, the children also understood how to control the sound driven application and seemed to enjoy the performance as well as the feedback from the graphics. At some points the computer couldn’t handle all incoming signals from all the children’s input and totally slowed down. This is something to have in mind when prototyping for user tests. Another reflection Rouien Zarin made was that a touch screen does not support dragging, which most of the children had tried to do.

Summery From the tests performed with the eye tracking one can say that it is important that the calibration is adjusted for the special user you are testing, to know that you can rely on the findings and that you don’t lose valuable time and the child’s attention in the beginning of a user test. But also that it is a perfect instrument to use when evaluating the software you are about to design. It was obvious that the children learned from each other’s when they interacted simultaneously with the interface Rouien Zarin designed. There is also a big potential in developing a sound driven application, and see how it could encourage children to respond vocally, together in a group or single, and thus develop their spoken phonetics and speech.

And it seems though it is crucial that tools for training, enhancing and enabling communication also are developed for really small children and children at a low cognitive level.

5.

design development challenges

Children with different kinds of autism have particularly difficulty with communication and social interaction, means Lena Nilsson at Kolbäckens Habilitation. Off course there is a wide range of individual differences, but it is common that these children do not interact with other children and have a limited imagination and ability to play imaginary games. Deficiencies in communication skills for children with autism are particularly evident in the areas of joint attention and symbol use, says Gunilla Bohlin et al. in their report. These areas are also core areas for language development. Speech development is usually delayed, between one third and half of all children with autism do not use speech in a functional way. Spoken language among children with autism before the age of five has also proved to be one of the strongest and most reliable signs of a further positive development. The ability to communicate in a functional manner is crucial to how a person's life turn out. Even rudimentary communicative skills can mean a lot when it comes to interacting with the environment, general adaptation, inclusion and quality of life. Even small improvements in communication skills may spell significantly improved quality of life and fewer problem behaviors (Gunilla Bohlin et al.). Every single step to support a cognitive challenged child’s communication skills is important. All these children can learn to read, write and speak – on their conditions. It will only take longer time and must be modified after each individual. The key is that learning must be on their terms and based on every persons interests and curiosity. A conclusion to be drawn from the observations is that conditions vary a lot between individuals, which means that an open approach in the creation of an application is needed to make it work for the broad audience.

But how should a communication tool be designed to promote speech in a functional way and actually support social interaction? Since a few years back, the Habilitation in Umeå, as several others in Sweden, is working with a behavioural intervention for young children with autism. They teach how to train functional communication step by step. On the basis of a clear structure and finding the right way of motivating the individual child, they start with learning how to train the child how to imitate and then continue to practice linguistic understanding through a range of examples. A good outcome has been seen when starting at a low age, with a high intensity and with involvement of the child’s whole network. The same base that the Swedish Habilitation Directors rely on, has for several years been practiced in the model for language development, Karlstadmetoden, that the speech therapist Iréne Johansson has developed. This method is practiced by families and their children with speech disorders, regardless diagnosis. The model is grounded on children’s normal language development and the three methodological ground stones includes that the training should: - start early, as soon as possible after the birth or as soon as the parents wants - be continuously and repetitively performed - be structured, systematic and individually suited In the design work with developing a strong and reliable tool for enhancing communication and developing linguistic skills among children with speech disorders, it would be of great benefit to rely on a ratified and well known model for language development. In the Nordic countries, Iréne Johansson is a guiding star in this area, and has been so since the 1980’s. The publishers Hatten Förlaget has done a great and inspiring graphic design work when they have developed the “Karlstadmodellen” into puppet characters, children books and computer games. This illustrates how a trusted model for language stimulation can be made more accessible and tempting with help of graphic design and new technology.

There are other interesting influences telling about new ways of understanding language. Gestures are shown to be critical both to linguistic and to cognitive development. In Blackstone et al.’s paper, they also mention Tomasello’s “usagebased” theory of acquisition as one of the most prominent accounts of language acquisition today. “The real thing is having fun” says Janice Light. She brought in teams of young kids, posed a problem to them of a child who isn’t able to walk and talk and set them loose to build an invention to help such a child. She has compared features of winning toys and used modified participatory design methodology to investigate and assemble children’s preferences and priorities in the design of AAC technologies. Janice Light has also found that young children with developmental disabilities (1-3 y) show substantial increases in vocabulary acquisition when provided with access to dynamic display AAC technologies. AAC (Augmented and Alternative Communication) technologies are a broad, integrated group of strategies, tools, and techniques from which an individual with CCN (complex communication needs) may choose when communicating anywhere, any time , and with anyone. When thinking about designing and improving AAC technologies, says Sarah Blackstone et al., it is important to seek input from all relevant stake -holder groups as family members, clinicians, teachers, educators, researchers, developers and manufacturers, knowing that they will not all view the world in the same way. Though, the most important voices are often the hardest to hear, they say. The most important in AAC research and practice is to involve and rely on the individuals with the complex communication needs. Participatory action research is mentioned as a widely recommended way to involve individuals with complex communication needs in developing research questions and designing methods (Blackstone, 2007). In a project where the aim is to develop tools for for children with communication needs, we would like to pose the same questions to the design team that

Barbro Svensson (speech and autism special pedagogue at the Habilitation in the region Västra Götaland and member of Föreningen TalFör) means are the most essential to ask yourself when you plan for, and carry out, communication training with a child: - Where - in what context - does the child do justice to itself?? - With who communicates the child the best? - Which activity and what interest captures the child's attention? A user-centred approach in a design project is the only way to be sure that an end-result will be successful for the users (including their network). For a future project, where the aim is to develop a communication tool for cognitive challenged children, we would recommend the design team to, from the very beginning; establish a close contact with a group of children and their nearest network. And along the project, plan for repeatedly implemented user-test with ample time margins. It would also be of importance to define what you would like to achieve or what you want to support with a future product as well as finding good ways to evaluate success in the developing work in relation to what you want to achieve, either by network evaluations, logopedic tests, observations of positive changes in social behaviour and interaction and so on.

6.

references

Barab, S.A., et al. (2004) Critical Design Ethnography: Designing for Change. Anthropology & Education Quarterly, Vol. 35, No. 2. pp. 254-268.

Light, J. (Feb. 20, 2006). Technology Helps Disabled Kids Find Their Voice. Science News. www.sciencedaily.com

Blackstone, S. W., et al. (2007) Key principles underlying research and practice in AAC. Augmented and Alternative Communication, 23:3, 191-203.

Light, J. & Drager, K., (2007) AAC technologies for young children with complex communication needs: State of the science and future research directions. Augmented and Alternative Communication, 23:3, 204-216.

Bohlin, G., et al. (2004, revised 2006 and 2008) Mångsidiga intensiva insatser för barn med autism i förskoleåldern. Report. Föreningen Sveriges Habiliteringschefer. (Association for Swedish Habilitation Directors) Bromark, G., Behandling av autism med beteendeterapeutisk intensivträning. Habilitering för barn och vuxna i Uppsala län. Fraser, S., & Gestwicki, C., (2001) Authentic Childhood: Experiencing Reggio Emilia in the Classroom. Delmar Learning. Johansson, I. (2007) Språkutveckling hos handikappade barn. Performativ kommunikation. Studentlitteratur, Lund. Johansson, I. (1994) Language Development in Children with Special Needs. Performative Communication. Jessica Kingsley Publisher, London and Bristol Pennsylvania. Ledon, J. (2009) Expressive Interactions. Communication Aid for Children with Special Needs. Ma Interaction Design Degree Project report, Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå University, Sweden.

Light, J. et al. (2007) Children’s ideas for the design of AAC assistive technologies for young children with complex communication needs. Augmented and Alternative Communication, 23:4, 274-287. Söderbergh. R., et al. (2003) Från joller till läsning och skrivning. Kristianstads Boktryckeri AB, Kristianstad. Zarin, R. (2009) Trollskogen. A Framework for Enhancing Communication for Cognitively Disabled Children. Ma Interaction Design Degree Project report, Umeå Institute of Design, Umeå University, Sweden. Föreningen TalFör, förening för Talpedagoger i Förskolan. http://hem.passagen. se/talfor/

Umeå Institute of Design Umeå University SE - 906 29 Umeå Sweden